Diabetic foot ulcers in Port Moresby General Hospital 2003-2008: review of the principles of effective prevention and management of diabetic foot.

Background: In the recent decade in Papua New Guinea and other Pacific countries there has been an increasing trend of lifestyle diseases, including obesity associated with diabetes mellitus. Foot ulceration and infection leading to amputation are common and feared complications of diabetes. Yet these are potentially the most preventable of all complications in diabetic patients.

The bacterial flora of acute appendicitis at the Port Moresby General Hospital in Papua New Guinea.

Acute appendicitis is a common cause of acute abdomen requiring an emergency appendicectomy. Complications such as perforation and peritoneal contamination leading to peritonitis can result from delay in presentation and an emergency operation. This study prospectively recruited 101 patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis to correlate the bacterial flora with the severity of appendicitis.

Variations of the middle thyroid vein in Papua New Guinean Melanesians.

The middle thyroid vein has been noted to be frequently absent during thyroidectomies in Papua New Guinea (PNG). To verify this and other known inconsistencies in the neck a total of 103 bodies were dissected at the Port Moresby General Hospital in 2002. The middle thyroid vein was absent in 59% of the cases.